How to deal with this Southwest problem

[captainkidd]

Kind of confusing, but here goes:

My family of 5 (Myself, wife and 3 kids - 10, 4, 4) are flying from Providence to Orlando next month on Southwest. No idea why this happened, but because of some credit SW owed us for a previous flight we took dropping, they ended up scheduling us with 2 different confirmation numbers. The 1st one has me, my wife and 1 of the boys. The 2nd on has my other 2 boys. For any of you familiar with SW, you know that you can only check one confirmation number in at a time. So, we could get A 46-48, and then A 62-63. Obviously, I don't want to board the plane without 2 of my kids. Of course, SW does family boarding, but that's after the A group, and then there's a chance we might not be able to sit together.

How would you handle this at the airport?

 

[bmarkelon]

I would just try my best to get online to checkin them both back to back quickly. They shouldn't be too far apart. Whoever gets the earlier boarding should be able to save your two rows.
It's not ideal but sounds like your best bet. People are usually really good about keeping families together, especially when flying to Orlando.

 

[GoochDSA]

Any chance at having checking in on either another computer or on a smartphone? Any friends or relatives who you can either go to that morning to check in one of the confirmation numbers or maybe if they are nice enough to do it for you? Did you call SW and see if they can consolidate both confirmations into 1? Maybe when you check in your luggage you can explain what happened and that you aren't comfortable leaving your sons behind you like that and maybe they can switch your number with one of their's and just have your wife try to hold seats for you if your far apart. :shrug:

 

[captainkidd]

SW says it is "impossible" to combine the reservations. Quite the advanced system they must have there.

In any event, what we're going to do is do both check-ins, and I'll go on with 2 of the kids, and my wife can go on with the other. I forgot, boarding the plane they just take the tickets, they don't look at ID's, so it shouldn't be a big deal.

 

[BigRedDad]

I am in the same situation with myself and DD. It is only the two of us and we have separate confirmations. This is what I would do...

#1 Have to browsers open with the confirmations ready to go. Book them as quickly as possible after each other. You may be lucky and get them in order.

#2 You can call SWA to have the 2 reservations cross-referenced. They told me on the phone that the cross-reference would load all passengers at 1 time.

I would not stress it too much. There is no airline that can allow unaccompanied minors to board by themselves. You can always speak to the people at the gate on how to manage it.

 

[DisneyJoe]

SW says it is "impossible" to combine the reservations. Quite the advanced system they must have there.

Much of it has to do with the underlying legacy GDS systems that most airlines talk to. I worked with a travel management firm for 3 years and it is unbelievable the number of restrictions and exceptions that are caused by that.

 

[dreamfinder]

I have never had them actually check to match the boarding pass up with the person. So if you do end up apart from each other you have a few options. Wait and all board with the second group, board during family boarding, OR you take one set of kids, and your wife takes the other.

 

[Nemo14]

We've had similar situations when we used a free ticket in the past for one of us. You just explain it to them, and they'll let you all board at once.

 

[Pooh Lover]

We have the same "confirmation" situation but chose to do Early Bird check-in which should keep us all quite close. We always do Early Bird to avoid the check-in problems.

 

[captainkidd]

We have the same "confirmation" situation but chose to do Early Bird check-in which should keep us all quite close. We always do Early Bird to avoid the check-in problems.

I stopped doing early bird because I kept getting A30 and up. Not much different than regular check-in.

 

[becanya]

We've had similar situations when we used a free ticket in the past for one of us. You just explain it to them, and they'll let you all board at once.

Thanks, Nemo...we have this same problem and I've been worried about it!

 

[donsullivan]

Kind of confusing, but here goes:

My family of 5 (Myself, wife and 3 kids - 10, 4, 4) are flying from Providence to Orlando next month on Southwest. No idea why this happened, but because of some credit SW owed us for a previous flight we took dropping, they ended up scheduling us with 2 different confirmation numbers. The 1st one has me, my wife and 1 of the boys. The 2nd on has my other 2 boys. For any of you familiar with SW, you know that you can only check one confirmation number in at a time. So, we could get A 46-48, and then A 62-63. Obviously, I don't want to board the plane without 2 of my kids. Of course, SW does family boarding, but that's after the A group, and then there's a chance we might not be able to sit together.

How would you handle this at the airport?

Just check in as best you can and then board together with the first location you have available. They won't have any problem with it at all.

 

[Cosmic Commando]

Until the AirTran thing finishes, all of Southwest's planes are pretty big. We regularly get B's checking in right at 24 hours and we board with the family boarding... never had a problem. It may seem like a lot of people in front of you, but the plane is big. I would just have the whole family stand together in whatever slot is worse. If it's A, then you'll be fine. If it's B, board in family boarding; you'll still be fine.

 

[wdwfan22]

Even boarding group B most of the time gets to sit together so it should be a problem. However if your that worried you should do the early bird check-in

 

[Jay & Sue]

No problem at all. Just get boarding passes for all and all line up with the lowest number boarding slot.

 

[Hakunamatata]

Family board with the rest of the families. Pretty simple.

 

[Millionaire2K]

Good question. As a SouthWest worker I feel I should answer.

What I'd suggest is to buy the early bird check in for the 2 kid’s tickets. Then 24hrs in advance check yourself in ASAP. Just have your kids with the Early Bird board with you a little later. This will ensure you all can board when your time is due.

Trying to board out of order "early" is not allowed. Some gate agents will not mind. However most will not allow it as it usually upsets other guest. However you can board later if you wish. (A-15 can board between A-25,26) .

Your other option is to board with family boarding.

And the long option is:

If you are still able to book your flights at the "same price" cancel ALL your flights. Then rebook together. You CAN use more than 1 exchange number per purchase.

Use the website to confirm price with the large group. Then cancel you flights and have the funds put on hold for future use. Then on the website book your flight and enter all your confirmation numbers as a funding source.

I hope this helps.

Any questions please PM me!

 

[trylon57]

Family Boarding! Pretty simple! We love Souwthwest! We would not consider anyone else! We cant wait to see you, Southwest on our next trip in October! Keep up the great work! MacAurthur is the BEST airport on the east coast. You should all be so lucky to have an airline and an airport like we have on beautiful Long Island,New York! Stress -Free, Crowd- Free, great people and great services, like restaurants,snack stands, rest rooms, excellent parking, etc... you wont ever hear an Long Islander complain about our airport or airline!

 

[BigRedDad]

After talking with SWA, there are 2 options for this situation:

1. Board at the higher number slot (A55 instead of A45 for example)
2. Board with Family Boarding after Group A.

For me it is only one child. With 2, it may cause a little more upheaval. I will talk with the SWA agents at the boarding to get their recommendation. They are not going to allow a child to board by them self.

I would not sweat this at all. It is too trivial with an ultimate solution that will have you all boarding together anyway.

 

[The Mom]

You don't really know if there even will be a problem, because you haven't checked in online yet, but you're asking for advice. And I thought I was a worrywart. :lol: